This is an analysis of the poem An Indian Mother About To Destroy Her Child that begins with:

Awhile she lay all passive to the touch
Of those small fingers, and the soft, soft lips... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: Xaabccdb eefgaagdghefcXdi bXeXXbgjhfXji
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,16,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 0111110001 0111010111 0100010101 1101001101 1101010001 11010001010 11000101110 01010111110 1111010011 110101010100 1101010111 1001010101 101100100001 111000011010 1101010101 11110011010 1111010011 1111010111 0101010101 11110101110 0101010111 11101101100 10110101010 01000010001 1101000101 1100111010100 1011010101 1101010101 1100111101 0101101010 11110101110 1001110011 1101011101 00110001010 1111011101 1001010101 0101010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 3
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 551
  • Average number of words per stanza: 101
  • Amount of lines: 37
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; she, her, to, his, as, it are repeated.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of An Indian Mother About To Destroy Her Child;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by James Montgomery